Creative Principles

“As a kid, I had the Super 8, we were making backyard epics, and somebody had to write the scripts,” jokes Howard Klausner about his screenwriting career. “I struck out as a guitar player and actor, but I knew how to write.” Klausner is best known for SPACE COWBOYS, DIRTY HARRY: THE ORIGINAL, THE LAST RIDE, GOD’S NOT DEAD: A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS and most recently, REAGAN. The latest film stars De...

Lauren LeFranc is the showrunner of Max’s highly-anticipated limited series THE PENGUIN. With LeFranc’s assured creative voice as its throughline, the show is a radical departure from what we’ve come to expect from comic book stories, embracing a daytime noir tone and aesthetic akin to crime dramas like THE SOPRANOS. Prior to THE PENGUIN, LeFranc most notably ran YouTube Premium’s IMPULSE. As a te...

Rhona Mitra first gained recognition as the live-action model for the video game character Lara Croft before breaking into acting with notable roles in projects like UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS and DOOMSDAY. Isaac Florentine is a highly respected director and martial artist known for his expertise in action filmmaking. With a career spanning over three decades, Isaac has garnered acclaim for hi...

Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit trace their love for writing back to childhood. Hernandez recalls writing a Star Wars short story in fourth grade, inspired by Timothy Zahn's novels, such as the Thrawn trilogy. "I remember that moment as the first time that I really thought, oh, I really enjoy doing this. I like doing this. I think I can do this," he shares. "And that bug never really quit. It never...

Rick Lite is the founder of Stress Free Book Marketing and a seasoned sales and marketing professional with over 20 years of experience in the book industry. His expertise stems from a relentless pursuit of innovative book promotion strategies. He is dedicated to integrity, innovation, and growth, and he collaborates closely with authors to develop customized, comprehensive book marketing programs...

At twenty-six, Gaby Laurent felt like her life was just beginning. Newly married and pregnant with her first child, she was on top of the world. But that joy was shattered when a routine blood test led to a diagnosis of AML Leukemia-and the treatment she needed could harm her baby or save them both. As a mother and cancer survivor, Gaby navigated the complexities of motherhood, adoption, and addic...

Katie Robbins is the creator and showrunner of the AppleTV+ drama series SUNNY. The series stars Emmy Award nominee Rashida Jones, and follows Suzie, an American woman living in Japan, and Sunny, a domestic robot made by her husband's company, as they uncover the dark truth of what really happened to Suzie's husband and son who disappeared in a mysterious plane crash. In this interview, we talk ab...

"I think David [Fincher] at first was a little disconcerted. I didn't know any of the vocabulary," says Carrie Coon. "After a particularly frustrating day where he was asking for screen direction or something, and I didn't know what he was asking me to do. I said to him, you knew, when you hired me for this movie that I'd never made a movie before. I don't know what you're saying to me. But if you...

After gaining an Academy Award nomination for his 2003 film EVIL, director and screenwriter Mikael Håfström started an international career, with films such as DERAILED, starring Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston, THE RITE starring Anthony Hopkins, and ESCAPE PLAN starring Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Håfström’s latest work includes the upcoming film SLINGSHOT starring Casey Affleck...

"I always looked at this as like, I'm trying to make Black Ocean's Eleven or I'm trying to make a contemporary Harlem Nights or contemporary Uptown Saturday Night, which were like this kind of like star-laden projects," says Ogbonna about FIGHT NIGHT. "And what you need is gravity. You need somebody at the center that pulls everybody in, you know what I mean?" Shaye Ogbonna is an accomplished writ...

"It's like being a boxer when you get in with the actor. You have to have respect," says Lester. "Now, if you get in the ring with Arnold Schwarzenegger and you're like, oh, you're Arnold Schwarzenegger. Well, that's never going to work, is it? If you get in the ring and you're like, you're Arnold Schwarzenegger, I'm going to make you the best possible actor you can be and do the best possible per...

Soo Hugh is known for The Killing, The River, Under the Dome, The Terror, and See. Most recently, however, she serves as showrunner, executive producer, writer, and visionary behind the drama series PACHINKO which debuted on Apple TV+ in March 2022. Based on the international best-selling novel of the same name, the series follows the hopes and dreams of four generations of a Korean immigrant fami...

Chris Brancato, is the co-creator of the critically acclaimed series NARCOS, which ran for three seasons on Netflix. He is a writer and producer with hundreds of hours of television credits, including The X-Files, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Hannibal, and Beverly Hills, 90210 (the original). Hotel Cocaine “tells the story of Roman Compte, Cuban exile, CIA operative, and general manager of the Ho...

Mark Monroe is one of Hollywood’s leading documentary filmmakers. He’s known for films like Lucy and Desi, Icarus, The Beach Boys, Shot in the Arm, Love Lizzo, Harry & Megan, Stutz, and Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose. Today we’re talking about his latest project, Jim Henson: Idea Man, a film that chronicles the story of extraordinary artist and visionary Jim Henson. In his 36-year career...

Melissa Ponzio is an actress best known for her iconic role as Melissa McCall, the dedicated single mother of Scott in the MTV's hit series Teen Wolf. Coming up, she’ll be returning to the screen in the second season of Apple TV+'s comedy The Big Door Prize, created by Emmy Award winner David West Read. Her recent work includes starring alongside Kevin Hart in the action-comedy series Die Hart and...

Tom Hamling recently went out on his own, departing from Austin-based ad agency, GSD&M, to found Nashville-based ad agency, THE MAYOR. He's got quite the resume, having produced award-winning work in four straight Super Bowls for Avocados From Mexico and RadioShack. He's also a contributing factor in the famous Farmers Insurance jingle "We Are Farmers" and starting the infamous Popeye's Chicken Wa...

Andrew Fleming is the executive producer and director of the hit Emmy-nominated series, Emily in Paris, returning to Netflix with part one of Season 4 on August 15. Fleming has been with the show since the beginning, executive producing and directing the pilot episode and directing at least half of each season’s episodes. Fleming is a screenwriter and director with a long track record of hits, inc...

Attica Locke is an award-winning screenwriter, TV producer, and NY Times best-selling novelist. Her novels include: Heaven, My Home; Bluebird, Bluebird; Pleasantville; The Cutting Season; and Black Water Rising. Her latest book, Guide Me Home, marks the third and final in the critically acclaimed Highway 59 series. Her screenwriting/producer credits also include When They See Us, Empire, and the E...

“I’ve had a single-minded focus on it,” says Alex Saks, about her love for movies. She attended Wake Forest to study history but then quickly moved to Los Angeles and found an unpaid internship. “Then I just went from there.” She’s known for projects like Thoroughbreds, The Florida Project, Book Club, Poms, No Hard Feelings, Summer Camp, and most recently, the Blake Likely film, It Ends With Us. I...

“I didn’t see it as a business,” says creator Alma Har'el. “It was a calling that was on my mind. I didn’t start as a filmmaker. I was many things on the way there — theater, video arts, music videos, documentaries — it just sort of unfolded over years until I got to make my first film.” Alma’s first writing credit is Lady in the Lake, but as a Director, she’s known for Bombay Beach, LoveTrue, Jel...

Niclas Larsson was a child actor who got interested in directing short films around age twelve. “I watched cheap American movies from the 90s,” says the Swedish writer-director, “And I loved them. I didn’t get into serious cinema until maybe 15-16, but I didn’t like them until I was probably 20.”  Comedies like Freaky Friday and 13 Going on 30 shaped his thinking on cinema. “I deal with magical re...

For more than a decade, Micky and a band of talented misfits and creative minds have grown the agency from a small, digital-first shop to a thriving, 58-person agency that’s distinctive product-led approach has attracted partnerships with iconic brands like Shiner Beer, De’Lorean, Pepsi, Diageo, Nike, Audi, NatureSweet and others. Originally from the Dominican Republic, Micky immigrated to Austin...

Jimmy Tatro is an actor, writer, director, and creator who began his career on YouTube and has since become one of the most sought-after young talents in comedy. Some of his credits include Sony's 22 Jump Street opposite Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, Grown Ups 2, and Modern Family. His latest project The Real Bros of Simi Valley: The Movie, follows his character Xander as he and his squad embark...

Janine Sherman Barrois is an award-winning writer and showrunner known for her work on Claws, Criminal Minds, ER, and Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madame CJ Walker starring Octavia Spencer. Her latest project, The Big Cigar, follows Huey P. Newton's life as he escapes to Cuba to avoid prosecution for murder with the help of Bert Schneider, the Hollywood producer behind Easy Rider, as well as...

“I want to pursue the industry. I don’t know what it looks like. I don’t have connections. But I knew I was interested in development,” thought Ashley Jay Sandberg while pursuing journalism. “I tell people to follow what you’re curious about because you don’t know where that’s going to lead.” Ashley’s latest film is Twisters, a re-imaginging of the original film, where a retired tornado chaser and...